Knitted stocking



R. HINCHLIFF KNITTED STOCKING A Oct. 18,1927.

Filed March 2ll 1923 Patented Oct. 18, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,646,199 PATENT OFFICE.

RALPH HINCHLIFF. F ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 BUBSON KNITTLNG COM-PANY, OF ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

KNITTED s'ioexrNe.

Application med March 21, i923. serial No. 626,466.

This invention pertains to knitted stockings of the openwork type andaims to produce a stocking which willbe not only comfortable anddurable, butalso one which will present an attractive and pleasingappearance. Y

Vith these ends in view, my invention contemplates a stocking which isfirst knitted with the same type of stitches and material throughout theleg and foot portions, the bottom of the foot and toe being of the samecolor and texture as the remaining portions of the stocking.- In theformationfof the Stocking certain of the vwales include held loopstitches, which, after the`knitting is completed, are raveled, openworkstripes.

These openwork stripes atthe front of the stocking areextendeddownwardly over the front of the foot portion, so thatwhen the stockingsare worn with sandals or low shoes, the openwork stripes appear on theinstep as well as on the leg portion-of thel stocking. At the sides andback of the stocking, however, the stripes areterminated at their lowerends abovethe foot portion, and in order to leave an unweakened heel,which will possess desirable wearing qualities, and` at the same time toincrease the -attractiveness of the stocking, these stripes areterminated progressively increasing distances above the foot portionfrom the sides to the center of theback, thereby giving :angornamentaleffect to the back of the stocking.

For the urpose of facilitating an understanding of) my invention, I haveillustrated on the accompanying drawings a preferred thus producingyembodiment thereof, referring to which,

Fig. 1 is a side view of the lower .portion of a stocking embodying myinvention;

Fig. `2 is a fragmentary v iew on an enlarged'scale showing theknittedstructure of the stocking; andl Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic cross-sectionthrough the fabric taken substantially on the line 3.-'3 of Fig'. 2. n A

Referring to the drawings more in detail, thestocking, which ispreferably of the seamless fas iioned type, is first knit throughout,including the 'leg and foot portions, of plain and held loop stitches,the stitches bein preferably arranged asshown in Fig. 2, so at some ofthe wales, as 3, 4, 5,

' and 6, for instance, are composed entirely of plain stitches, andother wales, as 7, 8, and 9,

for instance, are composed of plain stitches and held loop stitches.Each held loop stitch may be formed either by holding a needle with itsloop and allowing the yarn on one or more succeeding coursesto befloated across as shown in Fig. 2, or it may be formed as by tuckstitching in-4 which one or more tuck loops are cleared with the heldloop.

`After the stocking is knitted, some of the wales preferably at regularintervals, which include the held loop stitches, are raveled, thusproducing openworkstripes 11.

These stripes at the yfront of the stocking l are extended down the legand overthe top of the foot portion to the toe line 13. The

foot of the stocking, therefore, comprises an openwork instep and abottom which is of the same color, texture and structure as theremainder of the stocking. The stripes at the sides and back of thestocking are terminated at progressively increasing distances above thefoot from the sides'toward the center line of the back, as will beapparent -from-Fig. 1. The termination'of the openwork stripes leaves asolid heel portion 14' possessing desirable wearing characteristics, andthe termination of the openwork stripes along an inclined 1ine,asillustrated, lends a pleasino' and attractive appearance to the back ofltlie stocking,

In order to limit the extent of the run, or in other words, the point atwhich the openwork stripes end, the yarns are bound at this point bysewed stitches '15 (Fig. 2), or anchored in any suitable manner to limitthe extent of the run and preclude further raveling. Attention isdirected to the fact that the drawings are diagrammatic and that in theresultant fabric the yarns extending across the openwork stripes, thatis, the yarns from which theplain stitch loops and the held loops havebeen raveled a'nd the yarns which have been floated across, will be ofvarying length and kinky or irregular in shape without, however, varyingthe width of the openwork stripes formed by such raveling.

A stocking embodying my invention pos'- se'sses, therefore, a solid heeland foot bottom, both of ornamental and-attractive appearance, and anopenwork instep and le The back of the stocking also has openwoistripes, which, however, are terminated at their lower endsprogressively increasing.

distances'- from the sides to the center of the back for purposespreviously explained.

The number of the stripes and the width of the knitted Webs between thestripes may obviously vary in accordance with the wishes of themanufacturer, and other structural details may obviously be modifiedwithout departing from the essence of the invention, as deined in thefollowing claims.`

I claim:

1. An openwork knitted stocking including wales of plain and held loostitches, certain of the held loop stitches eing raveled to produce openwork stripes, and means positively binding the yarns in certain heldloop stitch Wales at determined points in the body of the stocking topreclude further raveling, whereby to produce a determined pattern bythe contrast of the plain and held loop stitch Wales and the raveledwales.

2. An openwork knitted stocking including wales having held loopstitches, certain of said Wales being raveled to produce openworkstripes, the raveling of certain wales terminating at determined pointsin the body of the stocking to produce a determined pattern, and meanspositively binding the yarns at said terminating points to preventfurther raveling.

3. An openwork knitted stocking including Wales having plain and heldloop stitches throughout the leg and instep portions, certain held loopstitch Wales being raveled to produce openworkstripes, the stripes atthe front of the stocking extending along the instep approximately tothe toe, the stripes at the back terminating at their lower endsprogressively increasing distances above the foot from the side topreclude further raveli RALP HINCHLIFF.

